eBay online shopping & selling

eBay Review: Strong Buyer Guarantees, Steep Seller Fees, a Pushy Live Tab

13.6% Plus $0.40 Per Order: What a US Seller Keeps

Listing is free for the first 250 listings each month; after that, each new listing costs $0.35. The real charge comes at the sale: in most categories, 13.6% of the total amount, which counts shipping and sales tax as well as the item price, plus $0.30 on orders of $10 or less and $0.40 above that. The help center's own example, a used phone sold for $400 with free shipping and 6% tax, loses $58.41 to fees and leaves $341.59. Rates shift by category: 15% for women's handbags up to $2,000, 15.3% for books, movies and most music, 8% with no order fee for athletic shoes at $150 or more. The US table draws no line between private and business sellers; fee-free private selling exists in the UK, with 300 free listings a month. Rates may change.

Money Back Guarantee and Authenticity Guarantee: 30 Days, $500 Bags

Whether an item is won at auction or bought with Buy It Now, the Money Back Guarantee applies when it never arrives, arrives wrong or broken, or the seller ignores their own return policy. A missing parcel can be reported up to 30 calendar days after the estimated delivery date; the seller gets 3 business days to respond before the company can be asked to step in. On trading cards, coins, bullion and for-parts items sold without returns, a not-as-described claim must be opened within 3 days of delivery. Paying any part outside checkout voids the cover. Authenticity Guarantee adds a physical inspection: handbags qualify at $500, watches at $2,000, sneakers from $100, trading cards at $200. Buyers can pay $40 to check a $200 to $499.99 bag, or $80 for a $500 to $1,999.99 watch, but some inspected purchases become final sale.

eBay Live at 8.9%, Next to Whatnot's 8% Plus Processing

Live selling has its own fee table, and it undercuts a standard listing: a 6% commission capped at $100 per item, plus 2.9% processing and $0.30 per order, so 8.9% in most categories and 6.9% for coins, bullion and sneakers. Through December 31, 2026, the order fee drops to $0.10 on orders of $10 or less. Live listings carry no insertion fee, and general Promoted Listings fees are waived when the sale happens in a stream. Whatnot, a live-auction rival, takes up to 8% commission plus 2.9% and $0.30. The friction is on the buyer side: 15 of the 150 newest English Play reviews, posted September 29 to October 1, 2026, complain about Live, and 8 of them ask for a way to hide or switch it off.

Promoted Listings at 2% to 100%, and the Ad Data Behind Them

A general Promoted Listings campaign sells visibility per sale: the seller picks an ad rate from 2% to 100% of the total, charged whenever the item sells within 30 days of a click, and adding it to a watchlist or cart counts as a click. The buyer who pays does not have to be the one who clicked. Buyers meet the other side of the ad business: Google Play labels the app Contains ads, and the App Store age rating lists Advertising. The Data safety form says approximate location, device IDs and in-app interactions may be shared for advertising or marketing, and collection extends to installed apps, web browsing history and SMS. Apple's privacy label, by contrast, has no Data Used to Track You section. Data deletion can be requested.